In a society like India’s, it’s bad enough that women get hooted at on streets for wearing ‘provocative’ clothes and blamed in the confines of their homes for ‘provoking men’. It’s the vicious circle that is also the reason why women don’t speak up more. 

A classic case of the above seems to have been proven, yet again, when it happened to a group of four women, in New Delhi this morning. 

The incident was recorded and then shared on Facebook by Shivani Gupta, who was the girl being shamed.  

The incident took place at Nukkadwala Restaurant, on Sohna Road, where the women had gone to get some snacks. 

Speaking about how it all started, Shivani, a copywriter by profession, recounts, “When we reached there, the lady asked me to ‘come here’, to which I went over to her. She then said ‘sit down’. I then asked her what this was about, a little upset with her condescending tone. She said it was about my dress. She yelled saying ‘Aren’t you ashamed men are looking at your thighs?'” 

Shivani further reveals that the woman then went over to them and talked about how women are raped because other women wear clothes like these. Following this, the group of women went to raise a complaint with the restaurant manager who expressed that they could have their food on the upper floor since they could not ask the woman to leave. 

The video footage shows an angry woman shouting into the camera, talking about how short skirts are a sign one is asking for it, in no fewer words, according to the women, it apparently didn’t stop at that.  

TNN

“This middle aged woman you’ll see in the video addressed seven men at the restaurant to rape us because she felt we deserved it for wearing short clothes and bashing her unsolicited opinion. For speaking up against her primitive mindset,” Gupta further adds.  

She continues to say “Our instinct was turn away from the drama but supported by our colleagues, we took her on at a shopping centre, nearby. We gave her the chance to apologise, to no avail, of course. Nothing moved the needle for her, not even another woman who learned the story on the spot and implored the ghastly woman to apologise.”  

The video has, ever since been shared via Instagram stories and on Facebook with social media users expressing despair over the issue. Over the hours that the video has begun to do the rounds, the woman has been identified as a school teacher; however, there has been no further reaction or response from her side as to the incident. 

New York Minute Magazine

We reached out to the CEO & Co-Founder, Nitika Kapur, who was aware of the incident. Here’s what she had to say: 

“Yes, we are aware of the incident. The girls who came in are regulars at the outlet. And the lady was elderly and of a certain kind of mindset. We don’t know what triggered her outburst. The manager did request her to kindly calm down since they could not ask her to leave out of respect for her. Following the outburst, they allowed the group of women to take their food to the upper floor. The restaurant has also extended their support to the girls who had been shamed.” 

The irony of the whole story remains that a women is seeing calling out another woman for wearing short clothes; thereby, fueling the age-old notion of how women ‘ask for it‘. 

Young Mormon Feminists